Farther down the hall, Open Kernel and CohesiveFT, a cloud-computing firm run by Patrick Kerpan, ex-CTO of software icon Borland, run larger operations.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The software powering the device is built on the open-source Linux kernel and the open-source WebKit Web browser engine, Rathakrishnan says.

FORBES: Gizmos

This makes for an easy root, Alephzain writes, but leaves devices open to attack -- allowing Kernel code injections and RAM dumps from malware-laden apps from the Google Play store.

ENGADGET: Security exploit opens Samsung Galaxy S III, Note II to attack, could let apps from Google Play write to Kernel